


Unwelcome Rescue

by Fluffysminion



Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Mutation Stage: Four, Port Caius, The Tall and the Smalls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 08:57:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21296870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffysminion/pseuds/Fluffysminion
Summary: Jaspar tries to do the right thing, but being what he is makes that complicated.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Unwelcome Rescue

Jaspar could see Nikota becoming more upset as he ate, but he was struggling to tear himself away from his meal. Especially while it was fresh and warm. Just one more bite and I’ll be there he thought, as she hovered anxiously at the edge of his vision. Just a bit more. He was just so hungry.

He pushed the body away, and tried to push it out of his thoughts too. “Come on then, let’s make this quick.” He’d done a poor job of concealing his irritation, but he knew she understood. He crouched down and let her put his cloak on him while he desperately licked the blood from his hands. Then she climbed onto his back, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I assume you followed him?”

“Uh-huh, but he’s gun far, it’s dang’rous. He dusn’t know what he’s doin.” 

“It’s ok little one, we’ll find him before anything that might actually want to hurt him, I promise.” Jaspar stood up, the cloak protecting his back from Nikota’s claws as she clung on. Hopefully it would also protect her from his uncomfortably bony back. She gave him a direction to head in and he was about to start running when he noticed the body again. He had finished all the parts that were easy to eat but still, it was tempting…

He dived down to bite it, and Nikota squeaked. Whether that was because she was surprised or angry, he wasn’t certain. Jaspar tore free a hand and then took off, much as he would have liked to take the whole thing he didn’t think he would be able to run carrying it as well as Nikota. The hand would have to do.

Nikota’s friend wasn’t hard to track down. The dormant systems were a mesh of pipes and pistons, but they were an orderly mesh. Pipes for transporting one thing only ever merged with other pipes that shared their purpose, and all of them were clearly labelled. Knowing which network the kid had fled into narrowed it down to just a few dead ends he might be hiding in, and Jaspar was confident he’d be able to spot them before they panicked and took off again. His vision was better than most, especially in the dim light, and he’d had a lot of practice. Hunting was what he was best at.

“You go ‘head. Calm ‘im down.” Jaspar lowered her to the ground, and was glad that she was focused enough on her friend that she didn’t seem to have noticed that he was talking with his mouth full.

“Tomar t’s me, t’s Nikota, t’s alright.” Jaspar was proud of how calm her voice sounded given how worried she’d been earlier. She’d always been good at keeping control of her emotions.

“No it isn’t! Do you even know where we are? We’re lost and… and… you were going to feed me to that thing, that monster! Was it all lies, just to get me to follow you out here to get killed by that-“

CRUNCH. Damnit. He’d got caught up listening and forgotten to pay attention to what his mouth was doing.

“JASPAR!” Nikota roared, he’d never heard her so angry before. Her friend, of course, chose that moment to make a dash for it.

Running straight into Jaspar, who knocked him to the floor and pinned his arms behind his back. Jaspar took a moment to swallow the offending bones before trying to speak. “I’m sorry Nikota, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to scare him either time. I’m sorry I’ve made this so difficult for you. I’m sorry.” His voice broke a little towards the end but her expression didn’t change. She still looked deeply hurt. She had every right to be.

He lifted the boy up, keeping his arms at his sides and a hand over his mouth to discourage him from screaming. Jaspar sighed, looking at the furious struggling teenager he was hugging to his chest. “I’m going to take you home. You don’t have to believe me, you don’t have to like it, but that’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to carry you, safely, through the derelict zone, and when we reach the edge Nikota is going to tell me if you know your way home from there, and then I’ll let you go. There’s nothing more you need to do. You’re going to be ok.”

The boy kept struggling. He kicked, he screamed, he begged for mercy. He bit Jaspar’s hands several times, and was nearly dropped several more. Jaspar kept his voice as calm as he could, and continued to tell him that it was going to be ok right up until they reached the lights of the slumstacks.

“There you go kid, you made it. I’m going to let you go now, so try not to get lost again, ok?” The boy was unsteady on his feet at first, but after a few cautious steps he sprinted off between the houses. He didn’t look back. 

Jaspar turned back to Nikota and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the hand that wasn’t still splattered with blood. He hugged her as gently as he could and whispered, “I’m so, so sorry.”


End file.
